


night timing

by spaace



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-16
Updated: 2017-09-16
Packaged: 2018-12-30 15:14:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12111471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spaace/pseuds/spaace
Summary: richie and his pal, eddie, undertake a space journey of epic proportions. (written from richie's pov, the two have a sleep over)





	night timing

**Author's Note:**

> the 80's seemed like such a fun time and i have this huge head canon that richie is a major star wars fan

i, richie tozier, am a star wars fan. i remember being around 5 or 6 years old when my mom took me to a theater in a part of town i didn't recognize. we waited in a very long line and it was raining cats and dogs, this is probably the reason i remember the wait. shoving a handful of popcorn in my mouth as the opening shot of the imperial cruiser chasing that rebel ship came onscreen, with those freaky low vibrations. the hair stood up on my neck, and my pupils ping ponged and rattled around in my thick rimmed glasses as i tried to pay attention to all the action in front of me. it was like nothing i had ever seen before. i was awed by the bigness of the spaceships, dazzled by the swashbuckling antics of the heroes, and darth vader creeped me the hell out. i remember cheering right along with the rest of the crowd when the death star exploded. it's been about 9 years, and i am still a huge fan.

now, my friend, eddie kaspbrak, did not like star wars. weird, right? okay, look, i knew the kid was a freak when i sneezed near him one day and he threatened to shove soap up my nose. but it was pretty funny, so i kept him around. anyways, the freak didn't like the movies, didn't appreciate my darth vader impersonations, hell, he didn't even like having lightsaber battles with bill in the barrens. i mean, we were just waving tree branches around, but it was still pretty fun!

so, i'm sleeping over tonight. surprising, huh? i think ms. k would rather scrub her house top to bottom in bleach after i left than letting edds catch any kind of crazy diseases she thinks are crawling up the walls at my place. and i've been there thousands of times so yeah, the place reeks of bleach. the house was like, super weird anyways. there's only two people living here but whatever room he was about to lead me into, i had no idea what space there could have been left in the house for there to be another room. i don't know. eddie's house, was unique, whatever that means.

i remember the first time i came over. "welcome to my humble home," eds said, as he swung the door open. let me tell you something, right now. let me tell you this, my friends, eddie's room.. was literally as clean as a whistle, whatever that means. the future was sparse, a bed in one corner and a desk in the other. there was so much room in there, i think i could do maybe.. four cartwheels, tops. if i could do a cartwheel. and the floors were literally squeaky clean, i think that's why he asked me to take of my converse before entering.

now this time, things were a little different. it was still empty as hell but now, there's a framed star wars movie poster framed right about his desk. you read it right, folks. first, i wiped my glasses with my t shirt, as my eyes could have been deceiving me. and then, i stepped forward, very slowly. i thought it could've been.. ah, what's that word? oh yeah, an illusion. but no, there it was, encased in glass. luke, leia, and han solo in the middle of space itself with their cool ass blaster pistols and the floating head of obi-wan in the background, surrounded by the death star and wing fighters soaring.

my book bag just slides right off of my arm. i throw my hands out, in this 'you gotta be kidding me', sorta fashion, laughing in disbelief. "you don't even like star wars!" i yell, jutting back at the poster with my thumb.

eds shrugs. like we aren't talking about the greatest movie of all time here. the bastard fucking shrugs, and grabs my book bag and his, then hangs them up on the hooks behind his door. "my mom bought it as a birthday gift last year, and i never hung it up."

never hung it up? you gotta be kidding me. he's had this awesome poster for 12 months hiding in his closet? collecting dust.

"eddie, you don't even like star wars!" i yell again, just making sure he heard me right the first time.

"of course i like star wars, richie." he says, matter of factly, a hand on his hip, right next to his fanny pack. "i like it more when you aren't yapping about it!"

my feelings were almost hurt. i thought back to the times he refused to be princess leia so i would have someone to save while playing out in the barrens, the time he threatened to push me down the flight of stairs at school because i sneaked up behind him with my best darth vader impression.. almost.

but i remembered ms. k was making ravioli tonight and i knew that pasta could feel the sad space in my heart.

after dinner, i walked into eddie's room with my toothbrush in hand and mouth full of suds. i watched at the door frame while he set up some sheets on the floor. he was folding it all neat and one person sized.

"aren't those your sheets?" i asked through some tooth paste.

"richie!" eds glares at me, dropping what he's doing. "why are you brushing your teeth in my bedroom?!"

aw, man, i should've bought my sleeping bags. first of all, i didn't really want him to strip his bed sheets just so i could sleep on the floor. i don't know if he even had extra sheets, and i didn't ask. but, the second thing was that i didn't really want to sleep on the floor.

he steps forward and snatches the tooth brush out of my hand. "could you go back to the bathroom, please?" emphasis on that last word.

eds is walking me back to the bathroom, like the moms you see at supermarkets scolding their child for grabbing a candy bar. "i don't want to sleep on the floor" i spit out all the toothpaste.

now he's giving me this look, in this 'you gotta be kidding me', sorta fashion.

"can i sleep with you, please, eds?" emphasis on that sixth word. i throw a arm around his shoulder dramatic, slumping into him. he leans against the doorway for balance and sighs. he's wearing a shirt i let him borrow a long time ago. after we got out of the pool, he couldn't find where he discarded his shirt, so i let him borrow mine. it's grey and has a hole in it and that's probably why he only wears it to sleep in.

"i would rather you sleep in a cardboard box." eddie groans. and i knew he didn't really mean it. but, if he did have a cardboard box, with some padding, maybe, and it was big enough for me and not small enough for him? sure. i'd like to sleep in a cardboard box. this is what i tell him.

and he's like, "are you serious?"

and i'm like, "as serious as my love for you." i confess before pulling him close in my arms and pressing a big, wet, kiss on the side of his face. he hates when i do that.

edds wipes his face with the back of his arm and murmurs under his breath, "fine, i'll go get a cardboard box."

i went back to his bedroom and waited on his bed. i heard some rustling going on, there were sounds of papers crinkling and squeaky doors. it was like one of those cartoon sound effects where you hear a loud bang and a cat screech. good thing ms. k is a heavy sleeper.

eddie - small, delicate, eddie - came back into the room, calm, and in one piece. this crazy fuck was hauling a box bigger than him. it was folded a bit so it could actually like, fit through the door. he kicked the sheets on the floor aside and unfolded the box and woah, that thing was huge - better than any old television box you could ever play in. seriously, it was like the size of an actual bed.

"you wanted a cardboard box?" eds asked, brushing his hands together. "fine, there it is."

"you just keep cardboard boxes around?"

"i was saving it for a big load of trash, but you're already here." he snaps, shooing me off of his bed.

he took a pillow from his bed and the sheets off of the floor, and drop them in the box. i thought he was going to leave it like that. but he steps inside of it, (he had to lift his legs up a lot) and spruces up the make shift bed. and you know what? it looked just like.. well, a bed.

i shrug. "i just wanted to sleep in a cardboard board so i could go back and tell everyone you didn't even think i was good enough to sleep on the sofa."

and eds frowns, "don't tell anyone that."

i stand up. as i cross my arms, he places his hands on those hips again. he's looking at me look at the box. "it's missing something." i say, scratching my chin.

"missing something?" he steps closer to me, almost sizing me up. he spreads his arms out. "it's a card board box bed. what could it possibly be missing? what do you want? a spaceship?"

i looked up at the roof like i was pondering something great, like i was thinking really hard about something. i really wasn't, "that's not a bad idea."

eddie scratches his chin, too. either, he really did agree with me, or he was mocking me and i should be expecting a kick in the shin soon. "it is a pretty good idea.," he agrees!

he flung his desk drawers open and rummaged through them until he found a roll of duct tape, and some markers.

he whips out a marker and just starts drawing. there's a steering wheel with a control panel in red and blue and green marker, with an emergency button, a warp button, a turbo button, everything you can think of. there's round windows on the sides with stars and planets, and a long red stripe along the sides of the whole box. i decided to help out and grab the duct tape, and began to cover the flaps on the side of the box. the ship's wings, i guessed.

and.. it was complete.

at least, i thought it was.

"there. there's your spaceship, richie." i'm convinced eds would walk the earth for me. i'm truly touched by this. so touched, i decided to welcome him aboard my ship.

"we shall invade," i say dramatically, turning quickly and gripping eddie's shoulders. "we will become invaders."

one day those big brown eyes of his are gonna roll out of his head.

"our goal, you wonder?" i turn my back to him. "to reign upon the likes of other ships, declare them as our own, and fight." then i turn to him again. "are you with me.. captain eds?"

maybe he thinks if he agrees i'll shut up and go to sleep faster. but he grabs my hand, interlocking our fingers tightly and looks me seriously in the eyes. "we shall reign together, captain richie,"

he was in for the ride of his life.

besides books and dumb school work, my bag contained a couple cola bottles i was saving to recycle, i loaded our ammunition with the bottles i had. i sat in the main captain's seat, and eds, my right hand man, sat behind me, in the co-captain's chair.

"securing all systems," i announced, flicking on and off switches in the control panel. "engine check, captain eds?"

"engine is secure," he responds. "ammunition check?"

"locked and loaded." i fasten my seat beat, and he fastens his. i kept a tight grip on the steering wheel as i pulled a few levers and punched in some combination in the control panel, and we're ready for take off. the count down begins.

"one!" the final number was recited in unison, and we were taking off to the stars.

grated, the roads in space weren't as smooth and the bike lanes in derby, but i'm a fantastic driver.

i dodge a small meteor as the planet of the storm troppers grew bigger as we got closer. "they're planning to take over the entire human race," i say, seriously. "it's only a matter of time before they have to kill other races in order to get to us. the storm troppers and those little pixelated bastards-"

eddie suppresses a laugh, "you mean those things for that arcade game?"

"shut up, fucker." i nudge him, laughing too.

our laughter dies down and i clear my throat, trying to take this as serious as possible. the mission continues, we're slicing through these alien assholes like we're cutting onions, only we're not crying. my mad driving skills got us through the planet alive - there were still cars chasing us, and we were left with nothing but our light sabers and the last can. we high fived before the aliens began to charge. they only had small weapons - flimsy guns, but there were thousands of them. we were slicing left and right, green slime oozing from their limbs all around us. the battle was nearly over, and at the last second, one of the two men fighting for the entire human race was shot - shot in the stomach.

eddie fell to the ground, pain written all over his face.

"eds!" i cry out. time slowed down, and eddie's horrified face was close to mine as i held him in my arms.

"speak!" i cried, shaking him.

"save yourself," is all he choked out.

"anything for you," i whispered, "anything for you, eds."

i pull out the last cola can bomb and throw it behind us, running off with eddie in my arms.

edds woke up in our spaceship, safe and sound. he probably didn't want to wake up to my ugly face staring over him, but he can't be picky when i just saved his life. "you're awake!" i exclaim, hugging him tightly, and this time, he doesn't push me away. "how do you feel?"

"i feel fine," he said. "did we beat them?"

"yeah, the entire's planet safe!"

"so, we saved the galaxy?"

"yeah," i trail off, pushing the hair in my face aside. "the milky way is ours."

if this was a movie, he played a great princess leia. this would be the best part to fade to black, where the credits trail up the screen . but, he kisses me.

secured in my hold, safe from all those alien bastards, he kisses me. and it doesn't feel trippy or weird or even insane or sparky. it just feels right, if that makes any sense. how much sense could that make? how just hours ago he was afraid i would drip some sort of toothpaste snail trail from his bedroom carpet to the bathroom and now we're in this cardboard spaceship, kissing, did not make much sense to me, yet is was happening. and it was cool, yeah.

that's all i can really describe it as. i mean, i could describe how soft his lips were, or how he didn't really taste like chapstick or bubblegum like the girls i've kissed taste like.

i push him away lightly, not in a sort 'get your filthy hands off of me', way, but more like a 'hold on a second', way. i sat up a little bit, and looked at him.

his eyes are huge and he looks.. vulnerable? he sits up too and rubs the back of his neck, uncomfortably. "i just thought.." he mumbles, quick, simply. "was that okay?" he moved his hand in this weird way, and i didn't speak any sign language, it probably wasn't even a sign.

but i nodded, and i'm pretty sure that means "yes" in any language

and i kiss him.

the stars and planets are far behind us as this cardboard box - oh, excuse me, spaceship. friendship? relationship? relation-space-ship? - slowly drifted through space. whatever this thing was, it was surely on auto pilot.

and this is the best part to fade to black, where the credits trail up the screen.


End file.
